‘A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story Told by Jefferson Mays’

 I usually choose my holiday (think Christmas) plays very carefully. Seen once and I’m on to a non- holiday show. So, when a friend asked why I was at the Old Globe to see a Christmas Carol, I had to answer ‘Jefferson Mays’. 

Mays is like a chameleon, changing from one character to another as simply as the way he walks, prances, skips, jumps, weaves, moves his hands, and looks over his shoulders, changes his voice tones and, with absolutely no music, costume changes, props, save a small table with a pitcher of water and an empty glass, the Dickens version of “A Christmas Carol” begins. 

But I get ahead of myself. A little introduction: Directed by Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and written by Mays, Susan Lyons ( Mays’ wife)and Michael Arden, Mays is no stranger to The Old Globe. In 2017 he won a Tony for his performance in “I Am My Own Wife” at the Old Globe where he played 40 different characters. He was also Tony nominated for the Broadway musical, “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”. So, yes. Jefferson Mays

Mays simply enters the stage and begins to tell the audience how, when he was a child, his parents used to read the Dickens tale to their children, each taking turns at reading and before we know it, we are immersed in the ‘Ghost Story of A Christmas Carol” with the likes of Ebenezer Scrooge (Bah Humbug), the ghost of Mr. Marley, Scrooge’s long ago partner, Bob Cratchit, his clerk, and his family including Tiny Tim, Scrooge’s family and the ghosts of Christmas’, past and present. 

Without intermission, and for 90 minutes straight Mays continues the story, leaving nothing but our imaginations to ‘watch’ the tale unfold. To call it a masterpiece in storytelling would be an understatement; it is nothing less than brilliant.  

If you are interested in seeing a holiday show that's a tad bit different,   ‘A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story Told by Jefferson Mays’ would be your choice.

Enjoy.

See you at the theater. 

When: Opens Dec. 12 and runs through Dec. 22. 7 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays

Where: Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, the Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park, San Diego

Photo: Jim Cox

Tickets: $64 and up

Phone: 619-234-5623

Online: theoldglobe.org

“MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET: A RADIO PLAY”

 

New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad is currently mounting a live radio play based on the 1947 movie “Miracle on 34th Street”. Adapted by Lance Arthur Smith with original songs (26 in all with advertising jingles,  Christmas songs, 40’s harmonies a la The Andrew Sisters). With arrangements by Jon Lorenz and musical direction by E.Y. Washington, it is not only a live radio play, it is also a music and dancing show (Choreographer Luke H. Jacobs) with pretty basic moves singing and performing) in front of  standing mic's all the way through. With a seven member ensemble playing multiple parts and a quick change of costume, all in period,  (Janet Pitcher) that’s stage ready at the drop of a hat, New Village Arts hit the jackpot on this one. 

Both movie and current adaptation carry the underlying message of believing in ourselves, having faith in ourselves and the world around us. 

The musical play opens by introducing the players. On the top of the two tiered set (Michael Wogulis, lighting, Annelise Salazar, sound, Evan Eason, audio, Marcus Rico) are all the little noise making and technical goodies used by the announcer, Alex (Jaxon Smith) simulating a live radio show.

 Tyler C .Jiles, Olivia Pence, Jaxon Smith, Sophia Larosh, 

                                                            Dan Mason

One of the movers and shakers of the group is Doris Walker (Olivia Pence), an event coordinator at Macy’s and a recent divorcee who does not want to be hurt again by believing. Sadly, her mis-trust for people around her is seen in that attitude from her daughter, Susan (Lena Palke) and her next door neighbor and lawyer friend, Fred (Tylor C. Jiles). 

Tylor C. Jiles, Lena Palke, Olivia Pence and Jaxon Smith

When Macy’s Dept. store is looking for a Santa (the in store one has an affinity for too much booze), Doris is skeptical that a man calling himself Kris Kringle ( Durwood Murray) enters the picture. Now you tell me.

After some harsh interrogation by a so called interrogator, to get to the bottom of who Kringle actually is, (Dan Mason, playing several characters and sporting a German accent that is totally unnecessary and offensive in this setting,) Kringle is hired and then fired. But that’s not the end of this Kringle er Santa. 

Lena Palke

The talent runs deep in this setting as co-directors Faith Carrion and Kay Marian McNellen’s manage to gift us this holiday season a sense of believing even when the world outside is topsy-turvy.

Outstanding in her role of Doris, Olivia Pence has a voice as pure as gold. (“Melancholy Halls” and “Miracle” with Tyler C. Jiles ). The entire ensemble, Tyler C. Jiles, Sophia Larosh, Dan Mason, Durwood Murray, Lena Palke, Olivia Pence and Jaxon Smith do yeomen's work throughout. 

Like the feel good feeling, happiness, they say  is a state of mind as is the holiday Christmas, spreading good cheer to all. Over the course of the evening those of us in the audience surely picked up on that feeling and especially for someone who used to wear a tee shirt saying “BAH HUMBUG”. While Christmas is not my holiday, I can appreciate the message.

Partial view of the set

See you at the theatre.

When: Playing through Dec. 22nd

Where:  Ray Charles Stage in the Conrad Prebys Theatre               

 787 State Street, Carlsbad, CA, 

Tickets: Start at $40.00

Photo: Olivia Pence

Box Office:  760.433.3245

When: Through Dec. 24th.

newvillagearts.org

“MISERY”, AT BACKYARD RENAISSANCE THEATRE: A THRILL A MINUTE.

Before seeing the play “Misery” based on Stephen King’s best-selling 1987 novel with William Goldman’s 2012 stage adaptation, I thought “Psycho” was the scariest movie I had seen. 

I will admit, I have never read King’s books nor seen the movie version of the same name. After sitting through an entire production of Misery though, (sometimes covering my eyes) and  having the bejeasus scared out of me more than once at the opening night performance of Back Yard Renaissance Theatre’s production, “Psycho” was a piece of cake. 

Maggie Carney and Francis Gercke

Misery, a double entendre, or the misery Paul Sheldon, our hero, suffers under the care of ‘his number one fan’ Annie Wilkes (Maggie Carney) and the name of the leading character in a series of books he wrote, Misery Chastain, is set before us.   

Paul (Francis Gerche) is a famous novelist who gets stranded in a snow blizzard on some god forsaken country road in a rather unpopulated area of Colorado. Annie, who just happens to be following him, saves him from freezing to death, takes him home and nurses his injuries, and there are many, after his car crashes. ("Will I be able to walk?" "Of course you will. And your arm will be fine, too. Your shoulder was dislocated pretty badly, but I finally popped it back in there. But what I'm most proud of is the work I did on those legs. Considering what I had around the house, I don't think there's a doctor who could have done any better.") 

Oh! But there is a price to pay! 

Since she has read his entire series of books about Misery, she is unhappy with the ending of the last one. Killing off Misery and calling the book filthy,  she cajoles him to write the book she wants to read not the one she just finished. 

Frances Gercke and Maggie Carney

From there it is all a downhill battle of the survival of the best between the two.  Psychological? Yes. Eerie? Yes. Mind bending? Yes. Captivating? Yes. Exhausting? Yes. Horrifying? Yes.  And any other adjective you want to use to describe the atmosphere created in the theatre by director MJ Sieber, and of course Gercke and Carney. Alex Guzman plays the part of the congenial local law person, Buster who makes an appearance at Annie’s door every now and then giving hope that everything will be OK. Well, not so much, since Annie has a cure for him as well.

Frances Gercke and Maggie Carnie

Without the fantastic cast assembled by MJ Sieber, or in anyone else’s hands I can’t imagine what the outcome would look like. Carney, who works in L.A. and has come to SD just for this role, is the perfect fit as the split personality Annie... raging one moment and reading to him the next; praising him and praying for him. She’s like a chameleon. Gercke, in unbelievable physical shape, is a study in mind willing body to do the physically impossible.  It’s exhausting to watch him maneuver by just moving his upper body. You have to see for yourselves.

The entire backstage crew sets the tone for BYR to stretch its wings and come up with this lollapalooza of a production.

Set and properties designer by Yi-Chien Lee, designed a single set with several rooms to move about. Technical director Keegan Graham. Lighting designer Curtis Miller sets the mood with shades of lighting.  Sound designer Logan Kirkendall gives us many different sounds to set our minds to.  Special effects(lots of rain and thunder) by Jeffrey Neitzel. Costume design Jessica John Gercke. Stage manager Anna Younce.

 For Stephen King fans who have read his books and seen this movies you will notice that the stage play as written by Goldman is a bit different from both. For those like moi who has seen neither, it won’t make a difference. But to purists, ‘it is what it is’ so sit back, grab on to your partner's arm and scream out loud if you so desire. 

See you at the theatre. 

When: Opens 7:30 p.m. Saturday and runs through Dec. 7. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays

Where: Tenth Avenue Arts Center, 930 Tenth Ave., downtown

Tickets: $18-$40

Photo: Daren Scott

Phone: 760-975-7189

Online: backyardrenaissance.com

 

“LITTLE WOMEN” THE BROADWAY MUSICAL AT MOXIE THEATRE WINS HEARTS.

If the movie or book version of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” didn’t steal your heart, then hop over to Moxie Theatre in Rolando and catch the musical version based on the Broadway show of the same name with book by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein. This one will.

Moxie Theatre, dedicated to supporting women’s work (founded by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg) 20 years ago, is still going strong. Now under the leadership of Desireé Clark Miller, thinking BIG is no option. For the first time in the theatres’ history, Moxie will be mounting two different plays in Repertory: ‘Little Women” and  “Our Dear Departed Drug Lord”. Yours truly has only seen “Little Women”, the other may or may not follow.

Nio Russell, Mikaela Macis, Becca Myers, Lena Ceja. The four March girls.

To reminisce: In ‘my day’ the all -white cast of “Little Women” starred June Allyson as Jo, Elizabeth Taylor as Amy, Margaret O’Brien as Beth and Janet Leigh as Meg.

Fast forward to Moxie’s blind casting by director Leigh Scarrett (also musical director) and you won’t find a finer and more talented cast of characters on any stage. Nary a weak performance by the four March sisters or their mother, Marmee, (evenly played by Constance Jewell Lopez). Let’s just say everyone in their orbit, at that time, in Concord, Mass. where everything seemed simple and complicated at at once.

Back row Nio Russell, Becca Myers
Front: Lena Ceja, Constance Jewell and Mikaela Micas

Alcott's book is quite ahead of itself as it weaves through the growing up years of the four March girls; first to some extent younger women and then as maturing adults shown in short vignettes by testing the duties of women as treated by their male counterparts. And yet it took the courage of one Jo (Mikaela Micas) March, pardon the pun, to march to her own drum. At a time when women were expected to marry, she would have none of it. She was an aspiring writer and nothing was going to stand in her way. (“Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they've got ambition, and they've got talent, as well as just beauty. I'm so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for”)

The second youngest, Beth (soft and convincing Nio Russell) was musically inclined and loved to  play the piano that belonged to their neighbor Mr. Lawrence (a charming Will Doyle), who lived with his grandson Laurie (Tanner Vydos). It was Beth who encouraged her sisters to do their best. She left an everlasting impression on those around her. 

Meg (Becca Myers) was the most traditional and the first of the four to marry and have children of her own. Myers was a steady as you go personality who ended up marrying Mr. John Brooke (Ryan Hadley), Laurie's tutor who used her dance card to get closer to her.

Makaela Micas and Tanner Vydos

Romantic Amy (Lena Ceja), the youngest  who was never satisfied with her standing in the family, loved to paint.  She was first to complain and then to have to apologize for her actions. Of the four, Ceja’s arc of becoming well rounded and sophisticated was amazing to watch especially after being tutored by Aunt March (a force to be considered with, Michelle Caravia) on how to be a refined lady. She has the money in the family and uses it to influence the girls’ choices. 

But it was Micas’ Jo, the second oldest, who carried most of weight. She was a force with which to be reckoned as the so called leader of the clan to whom everyone went when there was a problem and she was right there when there was a problem in the March household.  Her last days with Beth brought real tears to everyone’s eyes, so philosophical were they both. Again, her arc as she went from stubborn to smitten with Professor Bhaer, endearing and faithful to his profession,  DeAndre Simmons whose voice filled the theatre with bravado). He was ‘friend’ at the boarding house in New York where she went to write. 

Nio russell, Lena Ceja,Tanner Vydos, Mikaela Micas, Bessa Myers

As the Civil War raged on, the travails of the March girls coming of age is in good hands with  Scarrett, Ali Roustaei, co-scenic director, Colby Freel, co-lighting designer, Joshua Heming, co-lighting designer, Cynthia Bloodgood, sound designer, Michael Wogulis, prop designer and Xavier J. Bush, choreographer. 

My one criticism is that there were times that the musical track was too overpowering for the small space causing the actors, who all had beautiful voices, to over -compensate. Other than that, I would go back and see it again.

Hat’s off to Moxie for daring to go BIG!

See you at the theatre. 

Enjoy. 

“Little Women: The Broadway Musical’ & ‘Our Dear Dead Drug Lord’

When: Two plays will rotate in repertory Sunday through Dec. 8. 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. (Check website for play schedule)

Where: Moxie Theatre, 6663 El Cajon Blvd., Ste. N, Rolando

Tickets: $30-$63 (“Little Women”), $20-$50 (“Drug Lord”)

Phone: 858-598-7620

Photo: Desiree Clark Miller

Online: moxietheatre.co

“THE THANKSGIVING PLAY” AT NEW VILLAGE ARTS: OH! SO! POLITICALLY INCORRECT YOUR SIDES WILL ACHE FROM LAUGHING

 New Village Arts in Carlsbad is presenting Larissa FastHorse’s original play “The First Thanksgiving Play” through Nov 3rd on the Ray Charles Stage in the Conrad Prebys Theatre in The Dea Hurston New Village Center.

FastHorse, American Native playwright is an acclaimed San Diego based artist and McArthur Fellow, has hit every political hot button in this saucy, oft times delicious satire. 

To quote from the website: “Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in Larissa FastHorse’s hilarious comedy.”

Samantha Ginn, Erica Marie Weisz, AJ Knox, Kenny Bordieri

Here’s the story as I understand it:  Logan (Samantha Ginn) is an elementary school teacher really fu**d up her last assignment. She is given one more chance to keep her job when she gets a grant to create a Thanksgiving Pageant; one that is not offensive to any one people and is culturally appropriate and accurate.   

The play opens with four (adults) children dressed as turkeys singing a Thanksgiving song to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas: “The Nine days of Thanksgiving”. It then segues to a think-tank/class room with three educators awaiting one professional indigenous actress, Alicia,  (Erica Marie Weisz) to play all the  female parts in “The Thanksgiving Play”. When she arrives, she is considered an airhead by the others but she knows from her acting parts at Disneyland that elementary school kids can only sit still for 20 minutes at a time not the allotted 45 min. planned for this play.

Erica Marie Weisz

Also, on board is Caden (AJ Knox) a history professor who brings along several versions of the first Thanksgiving from 4000 years ago and Jaxton (Kenny Bordieri) another ‘actor’ by profession, but that’s another story. 

In this 95 minute production several sketches of the first Thanksgiving are partially acted out until someone has a different idea and we’re off to another reenactment of the first TG. Each and every one of them is loaded with ‘woke’ ideas and vocabulary.

Samantha Ginn and Kenny Bordieri

They are so off the wall and acted by this talented cast and all with a straight face, one can only laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of it all. 

Imagine four white adults reenacting the first Thanksgiving to a group of elementary school children, when in fact, no one really knows how the first Thanksgiving really went? And so it was, after 95 min. NOTHING.

With direction by Daniel Jáquez, co- founder of San Diego’s Latinx company TuYo, and an equally talented cast of very funny actors with Samantha Ginn, Erica Marie Weisz, AJ Knox and Kenny Bordieri who put their hearts and souls into this mish mash of wokeness, nothing seems to go right, or left as the case might be

AJ Knox and Erica Marie Weisz

Both women are strong and convincing. Ginn (Logan) who has performed in many productions at NVA is funny, serious, comical and hilarious high strung, energetic, ‘fully committed’ and, a Vegan too boot.  Weisz , who was just in “The 39 Steps”, does her own thing to the tune of being called ‘Simple’. She acts as if she doesn’t have a care in the world. She practices it and is funny in her own inimitable way by showing Logan the right way to throw your head back and toss your hair.  She just wants a job. She may be off in a corner playing with puppets, or putting on a chief’s headdress. She is as she says, ‘an actress playing an indigenous woman’. This she/her person is a born comedian at her very best. 

AJ Knox, the professor, is gaga over Alicia and tries every trick in the trade to win her over but alas, just doesn’t have the “IT Factor”. His comedic timing is spot on and his examples of history are so murky that the rest can’t or won’t use them. Kenny Bordieri’s Jaxton is Logan’s love interest but they have a funny way of showing it. Later on in the play, the two begin to fight each other with bloodied Native American heads leaving all four muddied with streaks of blood. (Joseff Paz, props designer and ass. stage manager). 

Kenny Bordieri

Costume and lighting (Sandra Ruiz and Annelise Salazar), scenic designer and sound (Michael Wogulis and Evan Easton), flight choreographer(Fredy Gomez Cruz) make this comedy of errors all come together in what was my take as one side splitting evening of woke entertainment. 

At play’s ending it shows, alas,  that we are all flawed and complex humans. What a concept.

See you at the theatre. 

Enjoy! 

When: Opened Oct. 12 and runs through Nov. 3. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Select Wednesdays at 2 p.m.

Where: New Village Arts, 2787 State St., Carlsbad

Photo: Jason Sullivan 

Tickets: $25 and up

Phone:  (760) 433-3245

LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE “PRIMARY TRUST” MORE LIKE A LEAP OF FAITH.

Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer Prize for Drama, “Primary Trust” is now making it West Coast premiere at The La Jolla Playhouse through Oct. 20th in the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre.  Coming from Roundabout Theatre company in New York (where Ashley will soon be headed) most of the scenery (all in miniature) is designed by Marsha Ginsberg and is also a product of Roundabout Theatre. Knud Adams directs the five person cast, some playing several roles.

Booth’s play is not in a hurry to go any place fast since it all starts in the fictitious town of Cranberry, New York, a medium sized suburb of Rochester, (population 15,000) and there it ends. “Welcome friends, You’re right on time” (Town’s motto). 

Caleb Eberhardt

At its center is 38 year old Kenneth (Caleb Eberhardt) a sensitive and broken man, lonely to a fault, yet who only comes alive when he’s with his best friend, Bert (James Udom). Kenneth’s favorite place on earth is Wally’s, an old tiki restaurant ‘that has carpets on the floors. Here, the two drink Mai Tai’s and talk nonstop. 

James Urbaniak, Caleb Eberhardt, James Udom

Kenneth has been working at the same book store for the past twenty years when suddenly the rug is pulled out from under him: Clay (James Urbaniak) the owner of the store informs Kenneth that he has sold the store and is moving to Arizona for health reasons. 

Kenneth is beside himself wondering what to do next when Corrina (Rebecca S’manga Frank) one of the servers at Wally’s suggests he apply at the local bank, Primary Trust, for a job. Both he and Bert rehearse the interview process and lo and behold, he gets the job…and is good at it!

Caleb Eberhardt, James Udom

New confidence? Trust in self? As the play ambles on and Kenneth gains some degree of trust, Bert encourages Ken to go out and meet new friends. This leads to a whole new ballgame that leads to leap of faith on both Kenneth and Bert’s lives and …well, best not to reveal the entire shebang except to say, so much of what’s happening on stage is going on in Kenneth’s head, including his best friend Bert, that when the play ends, almost where it started, one would have to be hard as nails not to recognize loneliness and fragility. 

If that’s the case; point well taken Ms. Booth. 

Caleb Eberhardt, Rebecca S’manga Frank

Suffice it to say, all our actors are excellent, oft times throwing out a bit of humor but for the most part do as well as can be expected in a play that moves as slow as a snail and is as  repetitive as this summers heat wave. 

As a side note, Booth adds another stage tool to her work; the musician on stage, Luke Wygodny, who wrote the original score, taps a bell every time there is a re start of the story making for a very long evening of stops and starts which I found pretty annoying. Without that element, the 95 min play would have run, oh well, wishful thinking on my part. 

Yours truly is not without her lonely times, where she is doubtful, uncertain or tentative and can empathize with Kenneth. “But for right now…for right now.” 

End of play!

See you at the theatre.

When:  Sept. 29 and runs through Oct. 20. 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 1 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Where: La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, UC San Diego, La Jolla

Photo: Rich Soublet II

Tickets: $39-$94

Phone: (858) 550-1010

Online: lajollaplayhouse.org

 

CAST SHINES IN LAMB’S “THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST”.

From the lips of Lady Bracknell (David McBean): “I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately, in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever.”

Lamb’s Players Theatre, under the skillful direction of Kerry Meads has assembled a prize cast to bring out the best of Oscar Wilde’s comedy/satire of Victorian attitudes, morals, manners and mores. The above quote is but one of his witticisms. More fun than a barrel of monkeys, Wilde’s 1895 wordplay comedy “The Importance of Being Earnest”, hits directly at the absurdity of 19th century upper class ethics. It will be playing through November 10th at Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” is all about deception, pretending and hypocrisy. The fun begins with Ernest (Brian Mackay) who is in fact leading a double life; he’s Jack in the country and Ernest (his brother) in the city. He thinks nothing of hiding this little secret.  And… he’s not the only one. 

His best friend Algernon (Michael Louis Cusimano) has the same affliction. Some know him as Algernon and some as Bunbury. Neither Ernest nor Bunbury exist, but they allow Jack and Algernon to play the field as bad boys in a social climate that frowns on anything less than proper.

Brian Salmon, Deborah Gilmour Smyth, David McBean, Michael Louis Cusimano, Lauren King Thompson, Rachael Van Wormer, Brian Mackey, Geno Carr. 

This type of behavior plays havoc with Ernest’s (Jack) love interest Gwendolen (Rachael Van Wormer), who also happens to be Algernon’s cousin and Lady Bracknell’s daughter. They live in the city. Jack’s ward Cecily (Lauren King Thompson), who lives in the country, is completely in the dark. When we catch up with Ernest, he has returned to the city to see Gwendolen whom he knows will be visiting Algernon. Here he proposes marriage and she accepts.

Lauren King Thompson, Rachael Van Wormer, David McBean

Lady Bracknell has other ideas for Gwendolen, especially when Ernest/Jack tells her of his birthright: He doesn’t know of his true parents or his pedigree. As the story goes he was discovered by the late Mr. Thomas Cardew in the cloakroom in a handbag on a bench at Victoria Station. (“To lose one parent, Mr. Worthington, may be regarded a misfortune; to lose both is carelessness.”)

Lady Bracknell snubs her nose at Jack and dismisses his claim to her daughter until… well you have to follow the dots on this unfolding saga. It’s almost too good to be true, but it’s Wilde’s, Wild Toad Ride and fun to watch unfold. 

Lauren King Thompson and Michael Louis Cusimano

Under Kerri Meads deft direction, Wilde’s comedy of manners sails along at a clip so amusingly fast that it’s almost impossible to keep up with all the delectable little tidbits taking place on stage. Each and every player carries off their respective personalities with the bliss they exude when they speak, to the looks they give each other when making a point. 

The casting is also Oh So brilliant. At the center of this farce is Michael Louis Cusimano’s absolutely wonderful, and if I might add a handsome, Algernon who is amoral, selfish, and brilliant dressed to the nines in Jeanne Reith’s gorgeous period costumes. If anyone can stir up the dust he has a way to do it. Equally fitting is his counterpart Ernest (Brian Mackey) who started this whole saga when Algernon found his cigarette case with an engraving on it from a Cecily. 

Brian Salmon, Deborah Gilmour Smyth and Brian Mackey 

Not to be undone by anyone, David McBean’s Lady Bracknell is delicious. McBean is a natural for roles like this and he is never the shrinking violet. Every move is calculated, executed and delivered with commanding hypocrisy. 

Rachael Van Wormer’s Gwendolen, who is obsessed with the name Ernest, is sophisticated, worldly and pompous. She gives a commanding performance taking control of her surroundings. Lauren King Thompson’s Cecily is also fixated on the name Ernest. She has a vivid imagination  and is delightfully charming with those around herself.

Rachael Van Wormer and Lauren King Thompson

Deborah Gilmour Smyth is positively quirky as Miss Prism, Cecily’s teacher and governess. She has answers to the Victoria Station puzzle. She is  also smitten with, hasn’t  got a clue Rev. Chasuble, D.D. (Brian Salmon), Rector of Jack’s estate. Rounding out the cast, John Rosen is Lane, Algernon’s valet in the city. Gino Carr is  Merriman the butler at Jack’s estate in the country. 

As mentioned before Reith’s costumes are exquisite, tailored and fitting for each class. Sean Fanning’s set design is modest but well suited for both  in the city and in the country with a few little placements on the stage and a change of furniture dressing and two walls of roses on either side of the stage. Nathan Pierson’s lighting, Ben Read and Patrick Duffy’s sound design and Vanessa Dinning's dialect coaching round out the super design team.

Brian Mackey, Michael Louis Cusimano, Lauren King Thompson

If you are looking for a fun afternoon or evening, I give this a two thumbs up!

Enjoy.

See you at the theatre.

When:  Opens Sept. 21 and runs through Nov. 10. 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. on Sundays. 

Where: Lamb’s Players Theatre, 1142 Orange Ave., Coronado

Photo: Nate Pierson and Ken Jacques

Tickets: $38-$82

Phone: (619) 437-6000

Online: lambsplayers.org

NORTH COAST REP STAGES A POWERFUL “A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE” WITH RICHARD BAIRD AT ITS CENTER.

 

Run! Don’t walk to North Coast Repertory Theatre’s opening of its 43d season with Arthur Miller’s first-rate, seldom-produced drama “A View From The Bridge”. (It was produced one other time here in San Diego by the then George Flint’s Renaissance Theatre Company in 2003.) 

At its center is Richard Baird, who has been in 35 productions at NCR.

Deservedly so, his is a performance one will soon not forget.

Richard Baird

Set in the ‘50’s in the Italian, waterfront district of Brooklyn,  everything looks picture perfect in Eddie (Baird) and Beatrice’s (Margo White) flat. Their adopted nineteen year old niece, Catherine (Zolezzi) has found a job. Much to his chagrin, Eddie wants her to continue school and argues. They convince Eddie to let her work as a stenographer down by the docks, since she has been taking, and he’s been paying for, classes for her schooling.

Lowell Byers and Coby Rogers

They are awaiting the arrival of Beatrice’s relatives who are coming to the ‘new world’ (illegally) to make a better life and eventually send for Marco’s (Lowell Byers) wife and family.  

It’s funny though how fast things can go dreadfully wrong in just a nanosecond. Eddie, a loyal family member, hard -working man, generous to a fault and overall good guy in the neighborhood, is conflicted with his feelings for his niece.

Marie Zolezzi and Margot White

It’s somewhat obvious at first but builds to a crescendo after the young stowaways, Marco and Rodolpho, arrive at Eddie’s house and a romance starts to bud between Catherine and Rodolpho (Coby Rogers) and Eddie goes through the roof.   

As in all Greek tragedies, Alfieri (Frank Corrado) neighborhood lawyer and family friend, breaks through the fourth wall and fills in the blanks of the demise… the tragedy of the Carbone family. As much as he would like to change the outcome, he is powerless to do so.

Frank Corrado

With commanding performances by the entire cast, the play unravels while the audience watches in horror as the family disintegrates before its eyes. Such powerful performances cannot be ignored by San Diego audiences. This one take the prize. 

Alongside Baird is Margo White his long suffering wife Beatrice who also gives a commanding, yet agonizing performance as she watches her husband yearn for Catherine while ignoring her. (“You want somethin' else, Eddie, and you can never have her!”) 

Coby Rogers, Richard Baird, Marie Zolezzi

Marie Zolezzi is perfect as the girl/woman who doesn’t see the trees through the forest as she cuddles up to Eddie while secretly having sex  with Rodolpho. Coby Rogers is playful as Rodolpho. Lowell Byers is convincing as Marco, who sends money back to his family, and Frank Corrados straight talk is painful, but much needed. Matthew Salazar-Thompson and Steve Froelich round out the cast playing multiple roles. 

Marie Zolezzi, Margot White, Richard Baird, Lowell Byers, Coby Rogers

Deftly directed by Artistic  Director David Ellenstein, the audience is taken on a tragic journey as we watch Eddie lose control of his place in his own neighborhood and home and fall deeper into darkness as he conjures up reasons for Catherine not to be with Rodolpho including convincing himself that Rodolpho is a homosexual (“The guy ain't right ... He's a blond guy. Like ... platinum. You know what I mean?”) and trying to convince Alfieri of the same.

Cast 

Marty Burnett’s set is up to its usual high standards with an average looking apartment and some rough edges representing the docks and bridge. Matthew Novotny designed the lighting, Elsa Benzoni designed the period costumes and Ian Scott, sound. 

William’s play, first produced in 1955 as a one act, flopped. But a year later it was mounted as a two act and off it went.  It  looked like a page lifted out of todays newspapers where illegals are blamed for everything and arrested and sent back to their native countries; where everyone was paranoid and looking over their shoulders. 

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat.”  

George Santayana.

See you at the theatre.

When:  Runs through Oct. 13th. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. and Sundays

Where: North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, 

Solana Beach

Photo: Aaron Rumley

Tickets: $52-$74

Phone: (858) 481-1055

Online: northcoastrep.org

CYGNET’S “ROCKY HORROR SHOW”

 Cygnet Theatre Company in Old Town is staging Richard O’Brien’s “Rocky Horror Show” through  Nov. 2nd.  Sean Murray, once the lead as Frank ‘N’ Furter, is now directing. 

“The Rocky Horror Show” began as a rerun of an old sci-fi movie “It all started out as an affectionate homage to late night movies and ended up being an affectionately-embraced late-night movie”. Thus, Richard O’Brien’s 1970 rock ‘n roll musical began its journey into what it has become; ‘the saga of a successful stage musical turned late-night cult classic’. Folks of all generations that can remember the 70’s, embrace it like it happened yesterday. 

There is a story, somewhat, and therein lies the problem for yours truly. But more on that later.

Audrey Deubig and Drew Bradford

Once upon a time on a rain-drenched night almost newlyweds Brad (Drew Bradford) and Janet (Audrey Deubig) venture out to find help after they get a flat tire on their way to their honeymoon destination. All they want is the use of a phone. HUH? 

As luck would have it, they ‘happen’ to see lights (in this otherwise dark and deserted place) coming from a mansion on the side of the road. Carefully, they approach the house. (“Damn it, Janet).

Sucked into the mansion/castle before they have a chance to change their minds, Brad and Janet encounter an odd assortment of sex crazed transvestite aliens who cow tow to the directions of a handsome young head of the household Frank ‘N’ Furter (Nathan Madden) .

Drew Bradford, Audrey Deubig, Josh Bradford, Nathan Madden

Frank ‘N’ Furter is an alien from the planet Transsexual Transylvania. He vacillates between his feminine and masculine side. Both prove provocatively sexy especially to his groupies. He’s tall and lanky and much to my surprise, looks great in his fishnet stockings, corset and bustier and very high platform heels. And Oh! Those long legs! But I digress. 

He’s the seducer and mover of this motley group that includes Jasmine January as Columbia;  Shanyeyah White as Magenta, (“Science Fiction/ Double Feature”) her mad brother Riff Raff (Allen Lucky Weaver) and Patrick McBride is another mad scientist Dr., Dr. Scott.

Nathan Madden and Rocky

With their help, Frank ‘N’ Furter is on a mission to create a sex partner for himself. Oh yes, he has a lab with more flashing lights than you can count, and there …Rocky Horror (Josh Bradford), who turns out to be this muscle bound blond Adonis  not some female sex queen as Frank would have liked, is born if you will. 

Linda Libby is the criminologist-narrator, looking like a power broker, telling it like it is, gets prompted along by working up the audience and then chides them to settle down with much bravado. Magenta puts us back on track with “Science Fiction”/ “Double Feature”. 

I was reminded by a friend who knows ‘Rocky’ inside and out, that the show really stands on its own and doesn’t need audience participation especially for those seeing it for the first time who might find it more distracting in a theatre setting than say a late night movie. And even though I’ve seen the show several times, I found the audience participation distracting, disrupting, overbearing and leaving much to be desired even though it is all  encouraged. 

Josh Bradford (in background) Nathan Madden, Mad Scientist, 

                                and  Audrey Deubig

 Whatever story line there is, is held together by a thin thread and lost in mostly individual singing and dance numbers. Choreographer Luke H. Jacobs kept the dance numbers bouncing along nicely breaking in with “The Time Warp”, that kept the audience swaying, waving their arms and singing.  The entire cast is vocally talented adding to the enjoyment of the 15 + musical numbers. 

However, between the loud audience shout backs and some sound snafu’s on opening night, this reviewer had a difficult time hearing the dialogue and was left with watching a series of song and dance numbers sans  connecting dots to a story.

Andrew Hull’s busy, nondescript yet gothic flavored set is cluttered with lots of paraphernalia from discarded junk. It takes on the trappings of an old sci-fi movie consisting of gadgets from out of space. Chris Rynne’s blinking lights and a long staircase leading to the bedrooms where more naughty shenanigans take place highlight silhouettes of  activities between Janet and Frank and then Brad and Frank, Rocky and whoever can be seen. Jennifer Brawn Gittings costumes and Peter Herman’s wigs reflect the B movie look. Aaron Rhyne’s projections give a nostalgic look into the past.

Settling in upstairs as well is the five-piece band with conductor Patrick Marion on the Keyboards, Nikko Nobieza, Guitar, PJ Bovee, Tenor Sax, Danny Chavarin, Percussion.  

All in all, Cygnet’s mounting of Richard O’Brien’s “The Rocky Horror Show” might be puzzling to some, (it was to me) but those who have seen this cult classic and/or other facsimiles (I’m reminded of “Bat Boy the Musical”) over the years, just sit back and enjoy themselves. The opening night audience, did. 

As a side note: A generational cross mix of highly charged fans that are “Rocky Horror” cultists showed up for the opening night performance at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town. Some were wearing boa wraps around their necks, some in fishnet stockings, corsets and bustier and, I don’t know how they do it, high platform heels.

If you are in the mood for a bit of an experience, and don’t mind the audience participation, check it out.

See you at the theatre. 

When:  Opened Oct. 2nd and runs through Nov. 2nd

7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Where: Cygnet Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St., Old Town San Diego

Photo: Karli Cadel

Tickets: $39 and up

Phone: (619) 337-1525

Online: cygnettheatre.com